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Lumbee Identity Is At The Center Of New Art Exhibit

WUNC | By Frank Stasio,
Amanda Magnus
Published September 12, 2018 at 12:32 PM EDT

A new art exhibit explores contemporary Lumbee identity by bringing together two artists with very different backgrounds and one thing in common: being Lumbee.

 Host Frank Stasio talks with two Lumbee artist, Ashley Minner and Alisha Locklear Monroe, about their art and what contemporary Lumbee identity means to them.

“Unique As We Are Alike” is a multidimensional art exhibit at the Center for the Study of the American South featuring the art of Ashley Minner and Alisha Locklear Monroe. Minner is a community-based visual artist and a member of Baltimore’s Lumbee community. Her art featured in this exhibit is called “The Exquisite Lumbees,” a series of portraits of Lumbee people in the Baltimore community. Monroe is an artist from Robeson County, North Carolina and her work features symbolic colorful paintings. Even though these two women live 400 miles apart and have different artistic styles, there are connections between their works.

Host Frank Stasio talks to Monroe and Minner about their art and what contemporary Lumbee identity means to them. “Unique As We Are Alike” is open to view at the Center for the Study of the American South in Chapel Hill until mid December, and the opening reception is October 6 at the Center. 

'Jeremy' by Ashley Minner, one of the works featured in the exhibit 'Unique As We Are Alike'
Courtesy of Ashley Minner, Sean Scheidt, and Jeremy Locklear / Center for the Study of the American South
/
Center for the Study of the American South
'Jeremy' by Ashley Minner, one of the works featured in the exhibit 'Unique As We Are Alike'

Copyright 2018 North Carolina Public Radio
Frank Stasio
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.
See stories by Frank Stasio
Amanda Magnus
Amanda Magnus grew up in Maryland and went to high school in Baltimore. She became interested in radio after an elective course in the NYU journalism department. She got her start at Sirius XM Satellite Radio, but she knew public radio was for her when she interned at WNYC. She later moved to Madison, where she worked at Wisconsin Public Radio for six years. In her time there, she helped create an afternoon drive news magazine show, called Central Time. She also produced several series, including one on Native American life in Wisconsin. She spends her free time running, hiking, and roller skating. She also loves scary movies.
See stories by Amanda Magnus